VHS to DVD

**T_G** · 21-08-2005

Hi

I have got a shitload of old VHS cassettes which I would like to turn into DVD's so I can get rid of the VCR (getting old) and the cassettes as well.

Has anyone got an idea how to do it without having to buy expensive equipment?

***Lancelot*** · 21-08-2005

A decent Graphics card with svideo in and some software. How about that ?

L.

**gameboy** · 21-08-2005

It takes a long, long time to do it - even with a fast processor.

**longreach** · 21-08-2005

Just get one of the new Panasonic Dvd-Ram Hdd recorder, transfer your Vhs tape’s to the Hard drive edited this if required burn to a Caddy Ram Disc keep this as the master then burn to dvd media for every day use.

**T_G** · 21-08-2005

Originally Posted by longreach

Just get one of the new Panasonic Dvd-Ram Hdd recorder, transfer your Vhs tape’s to the Hard drive edited this if required burn to a Caddy Ram Disc keep this as the master then burn to dvd media for every day use.

What are they exactly and how much do they go for?

**mhku** · 21-08-2005

I use an Adaptec external box (converts input to mpeg) and record to my harddrive. Then start Nero and make the dvd.

It can be as easy as that or use title making software to add menus etc.

**longreach** · 22-08-2005

T G follow the link this will explain everything you need to know,

http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/icat/dvdrecorders

if you have a dvd-rom or a Dvd-writer or both drives in your computer you can transfer the dvd's you have made with the Panasonic and use dvd software to make professional looking Dvd with menus Etc.

There's even a four in one machine the
http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/invt/dmreh80v

**gameboy** · 22-08-2005

Originally Posted by longreach

T G follow the link this will explain everything you need to know,

http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/icat/dvdrecorders

if you have a dvd-rom or a Dvd-writer or both drives in your computer you can transfer the dvd's you have made with the Panasonic and use dvd software to make professional looking Dvd with menus Etc.

There's even a four in one machine the
http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/invt/dmreh80v

Great stuff but the original post states...

Has anyone got an idea how to do it without having to buy expensive equipment?

**T_G** · 22-08-2005

Originally Posted by longreach

T G follow the link this will explain everything you need to know,

http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/icat/dvdrecorders

if you have a dvd-rom or a Dvd-writer or both drives in your computer you can transfer the dvd's you have made with the Panasonic and use dvd software to make professional looking Dvd with menus Etc.

There's even a four in one machine the
http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/invt/dmreh80v

Wow they look really nice, but I think once I come with this one home and explain to my missus that I just used the holiday money for this she will get the Eunichizer out...

I was really looking for a cheap thing, PC based. This Adaptec external box, does it give good results? So you basically connect the box to the VCR, play the VHS and record it onto your PC? How much did you pay for it?

**mhku** · 22-08-2005

Yes, the results are the same quality as the original tape. The VCR connects to the Adaptec box, and then to the PC. It records in realtime (Sonic DVD is the software) and then "writes" the file as an mpg to the hard-drive (and that's the part that may take time on a slow pc). I then use Nero to make the DVD.

You can see all the ways to do it at www.videohelp.com

You need plenty of RAM though. My box was £30 off Ebay

, £6 for the lead.

And then I bought 2Gb of RAM

otherwise your PC will be unuseable during processing.

**Channel Hopper** · 23-08-2005

I bought a PC DVD recorder thingy last time I was in the US. It cost about $120 all in (including some extra RAM, which wouldnt fit in the PC)

Have a look for a reduced combo DVDR/VCR box in your local Currys/Makros/Lidl. It may not come with remote, but the front panel buttons will allow you to do transfers (Region 2 only though)

**PoloMint** · 23-08-2005

I use an analogue Hauppauge TV card (£20 or so on Ebay

I imagine) with an S-Video input. Connect VCR to that (from Scart) and sound to the audio input.

After recording the tape to the hard drive with Win DVD Recorder I make up some menus in Nero by taking stills from the recording, do the same for the menu buttons (chapter selection and so on) then burn to DVD.

Once it’s recorded onto the hard drive, which has to be done in real time and so depends on the length of the tape, it only takes about 30-60mins to do the menus and burn the DVD. The quality is just as good as the original VHS.

If you don’t want fancy menus you could just use a template and it would be even quicker.

**mhku** · 23-08-2005

The only disadvantage of a capture card is that it uses the PC's processor to make the mpg whereas an external box takes the load of the processor. Quality is prob the same.

**gameboy** · 24-08-2005

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***haggard*** · 18-09-2005

Originally Posted by T_G

Hi

I have got a shitload of old VHS cassettes which I would like to turn into DVD's so I can get rid of the VCR (getting old) and the cassettes as well.

Has anyone got an idea how to do it without having to buy expensive equipment?

T_G, I'm about to start this winters trancription of VHSs to DVD again. I did a shitload last winter. My missus is a TV director and I'd like to free up the spare room that holds all the tapes of her shows. She has many 100s.

I do it on PC or Mac, mainly Mac.
VHS -> Hollywood dazzle digitiser -> hdd -> Adobe Premiere or FCP -> mpeg -> author -> burn.
Best mpegger I know is Bitvice on Mac and it has a nice noise reducer for tape output. TMPGEnc is also pretty good. Then Ulead MF to author.

The dazzle was about £200 when I got it 3-4 yrs ago but prices have plunged. You should get a decent one for about 100. Watch out it doesnt produce files with an in-house codec (Pinnacle?) Dazzle gives straight .dv (.avi) which is like a DVC stream.

If I give one other tip, digitising tape always gives chash at the top and bottom and you really need to mask this off, to save bandwidth and to avoid irritation.

The time killer is the step .dv/.avi to mpeg and it can be over 10x play time (a day for a 2 hour tape). So I carry files on a portable little 30 GB hd (taken out of a G4 laptop upgraded to 100) and bung them into a G5 in my office where it goes 2 -3x faster than G4 laptop. You need speed.

**T_G** · 27-09-2005

Thanks Haggard!
It sounds as if this is sort of cheap, but why does it take so long?? A day for a 2 hour tape, that's a killer. It will take forever to get all these hours of VHS converted...

***haggard*** · 21-10-2005

Originally Posted by T_G

Thanks Haggard!
It sounds as if this is sort of cheap, but why does it take so long?? A day for a 2 hour tape, that's a killer. It will take forever to get all these hours of VHS converted...

It was taking me about a day per tape, not standing over it of course, but elapsed time till it was done.

• I set the tape to capture so that is 1 minute per minute
• It's easier to edit the dv file than the subsequent mpeg to top and tail, maybe cut ads (tho be careful about throwing away 20 year old ads, they can be collectors items). So thats another minute per minute to export, maybe 2 mins per minute if I decide to blank off the crap at top and bottom frame.
• Then compress to mpeg. The fastest I have is bitice on a G5 which is 3 mins per min.

So you see, that is 6 mins per minute of tape or 12 hours for 3 hrs.

Now, I was in Hamburg this week and spotted a Dazzle in the local AV store (MediMax at back of EEZ on Osdorfer Landstr but they look like a chain). This converted input coming off VHS straight to mpeg. So switch it on and let it go in one step. You then have to edit mpeg if you want a neat result.
They were about €140. which is cheaper than my original dazzle AV-> dv by a factor 2.

**T_G** · 21-10-2005

Now, I was in Hamburg this week and spotted a Dazzle in the local AV store (MediMax at back of EEZ on Osdorfer Landstr but they look like a chain).

That's interesting, Haggard. What is the name of the device, do you remember?
That sort of price is interesting, I could probably interest a mate of mine to share it as he needs it too..

bartok · 22-10-2005

The latest Pinnacle device is the (Dazzle) DVC90. Around 90€. I got one lately and it works fine.

Two things to watch: First, it only works with Windows XP. Second, the (AVI) DV files it produces are enormous.

It's the compression to MPEG (or any compression) that takes time. That's why people pay more for a hardware real-time MPEG encoder. No convcersion necessary.

Hope this helps,

bartok

**mhku** · 22-10-2005

I use a hardware converter- produces an mpeg in realtime. Subsequent conversion to DVD (using Nero) doesn't take too long, but I do have 2gb of ram to help it along

***haggard*** · 23-10-2005

Originally Posted by mhku

Yes, the results are the same quality as the original tape. The VCR connects to the Adaptec box, and then to the PC. It records in realtime (Sonic DVD is the software) and then "writes" the file as an mpg to the hard-drive (and that's the part that may take time on a slow pc). I then use Nero to make the DVD.

You can see all the ways to do it at www.videohelp.com

You need plenty of RAM though. My box was £30 off Ebay , £6 for the lead.

And then I bought 2Gb of RAM otherwise your PC will be unuseable during processing.

Just one comment, if you go the route I do, via a dv (avi) file then using a mpegger like Bitvice, you can clean up the picture quite a bit and it looks subjectively, just a tad better than the original VHS tape. On my trusty old panasonic VCR, there is a little knob that takes out noise. That helps if I am in a hurry. But Bitvice has algorithms looking for areas of uniform colour/density and does a good clean up.

Referring to the original need - cheap, I would look for a Hollywood Dazzle on Ebay

or look at current new version (VCR -> dv). It must be less than £100.
I cant remember what the name of the VCR -> mpeg gizmo was in MediMax but Do wohnst in Deutschland nicht? T_G? Then there must be a store near you
h**p://www.medimax.de/htms/filialen/f_filial.html

I have a hauppauge digitiser also that I got when it was the only thing that would work on a Mac. I hardly used it on my G3 cos there was always a faint warble on the audio, something to do with the USB multiplexing. I used it only for making movies off VHS to watch on trains where the warble couldnt be heard. I will check it on new G4 and see if the warble has gone. Hauppauge simply said "what warble" -- except in web archives (you cant escape them) there is a link to an old Hauppauge page saying their engineers were looking into it.
If there's no warble, you can have it for price of postage. If warble is still there, then I will bin it. It is possible drivers exist for PC.
I used to capture using Adobe Premiere which saw the thing alright on Mac.

***PCD*** · 09-11-2005

Originally Posted by bartok

The latest Pinnacle device is the (Dazzle) DVC90. Around 90€. I got one lately and it works fine.

Two things to watch: First, it only works with Windows XP. Second, the (AVI) DV files it produces are enormous.

It's the compression to MPEG (or any compression) that takes time. That's why people pay more for a hardware real-time MPEG encoder. No convcersion necessary.

Hope this helps,

bartok

Hi Bartok,

I have just bought a Dazzle DVC90 to transfer some video tape recordings from vcr to pc files. The supplied test program Amcap works ok but with dropped frames, but nothing shows or captures with Pinnacle Studio 9. I keep getting a 'capture error'. Any advice ?

Regards, pcd.

**mhku** · 09-11-2005

USB2 or firewire?

***PCD*** · 09-11-2005

Originally Posted by mhku

USB2 or firewire?

Usb2.0. What I want to know is - does Studio 9 produce better quality capture video than Amcap ? If not, I can capture with Amcap and edit with Studio 9. Regards.

***haggard*** · 14-11-2005

Originally Posted by PCD

Usb2.0. What I want to know is - does Studio 9 produce better quality capture video than Amcap ? If not, I can capture with Amcap and edit with Studio 9. Regards.

Provided your PC can keep up with the data flow, you are unlikely to see any difference between captured avi files from different devices or even less so using different software on the same box.
The dropped frames are a worry. It shouldnt happen if yr PC processor is (say) 600MHz or faster. If you are going to capture, then there are some golden rules:
Stop as many applications running as you can.
De-fragment your hdd before starting.
Make sure you have at least twice as much free space as the estimated captured file size (abt 13GB per hour).
Check the capture settings to make sure that you are not doing any re-coding on the fly.
I assume all this is for capturing avi (dv) files. If the boxes are encoding to mpeg on the flky then the dropped frames is an even bigger puzzle.

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